
Professor Abraham Van Helsing, MD, D.ph, D.lit, etc, etc[1], is one of the main protagonists in the film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) is the mentor of Dr. John Seward (Richard E. Grant) and first gets involved after his pupil summons him to Lucy Westenra's manor in England to help diagnose an unknown ailment.
Van Helsing is a man with seemingly unlimited qualifications and titles including but not limited to Doctor, Professor, and Vampire Hunter. When he is called to help diagnose Lucy Westenra, he immediately recognizes that she is suffering due to vampire attacks. He orders her suitors to start blood transfusions to keep her alive and decorates her with garlic. After Lucy's eventual death, Van Helsing recognizes that she will soon rise from the dead and gathers a hunting party consisting of Quincey Morris (Billy Campbell), Arthur Holmwood (Cary Elwes), John Seward, and himself. When the party encounters Lucy as a member of the walking dead holding a child she intends to feed off of, Van Helsing shows off how deep his knowledge of vampire slaying really is.
Van Helsing holds up a Christian cross and recites a religious line forcing Lucy the vampire back into her grave. He then hands off a stake to Arthur who is instructed to drive it deep into her heart. Finally Helsing uses a sword to decapitate the injured vampire, finishing her off for good and completing the display of knowledge and power Helsing holds over the undead.[2]
Later the professor leads his fellow protagonists to Carafax Abbey where they destroy the soil Dracula sleeps in to restore his powers every night. After the count escapes the abbey, Abraham along with Jonathon Harker (Keanu Reeves) lead the chase for the final encounter with Count Dracula which takes place in front of his manor. The count is injured due to a slash to the neck and a stake in the chest and retreats into his estate followed closely by Mina Harker (Winona Ryder). After a dialogue the heroine finishes off her old lover using the technique unveiled earlier by Dr. Helsing, driving the stake fully through his heart, killing Dracula for good.
- ↑ Stoker, Bram. Dracula (PDF). Ch 9, LETTER, ABRAHAM VAN HELSING, MD, DPh, D. Lit, ETC, ETC, TO DR. SEWARD 2 September. p. 162.
- ↑ (1:26:49) https://arizona.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=65bbe760-33bf-48e2-94eb-3d87a119f7a6